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After Angela Mazaris spoke to a ZSR Staff meeting, I talked with her about working together for an exhibit in ZSR. In January, I attended her class in Tribble and spoke to them about how to put together a good exhibit. Months passed. Winter became spring, then a sudden flurry of activity that bordered on frenetic. Angela’s class spent the last four class sessions coming to Preservation to talk about, draft and finalize their exhibits.

They cut colorful leaves, glued, taped, cut and did all the things that make an exhibit look compelling. I printed printed an 8 foot banner.

There were several days when I got asked for things so quickly in succession, I really didn’t have the mental space to question my own sanity. Mr. Fansler, do you have tape…how should I attach this piece of paper to this piece of foam core…if I want to…how can I ….if I have a pogo stick with a jet propulsion unit, how can I make this relevant to the gay culture at Wake Forest….just kidding.

Early in the semester, Angela’s class contacted alumni and did interviews with them about the culture at Wake Forest from the 1960’s til today. The class exhibits follow this theme. Eventually, the audio interviews will be archived in Special Collections.

The exhibits are now installed and tell a compelling story about the environment encountered by gay students at Wake Forest, the way this was portrayed in campus publications, the same sex marriage in Wait Chapel, the current NC Amendment and many other issues. It was a pleasure working with this class and Dr. Mazaris on this exhibit project. As with any collaboration, I learned so much and benefited from meeting and working with this class.